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The Runge FF007 is the coolest sports car you don't know about

Vintage-inspired sports cars star in the latest 'Leno's Garage'

March 12, 2018

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We’ve all seen them -- replica Porsche 550 Spyders, Jaguar D-Types and fiberglass amalgams of various styling cues banded together and sold out of the back of issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man" with dreams of slapping it on a VW Beetle. While the rebodied Beetle has its own section in Car Culture 101, these Runge sports cars aren’t those. No, as Leno points out, these are hand-formed bodies that cover hand-built tube chassis.

Sitting in Leno’s shop, the FF007 coupe and the FF006 roadster look perfectly at home. The radically styled coupe’s gullwing doors wouldn’t have looked out of place fighting among Mercedes-Benz 300SL coupes in the 1950s, despite being built in the 21st century. Powering this crazy, race-inspired coupe is a heavily modified VW mill (there's the Beetle!) that’s equipped with Okrasa cylinder heads and other racing parts.

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The FF006 is powered by a similar flat-four engine. However, this was originally used to move the Porsche 912. Opting for a flat-six from a 911 might have made the Porsche-inspired racer quicker, but the flat-four should have no problem moving its scant 1,240 pounds around.

Sure, Christopher Runge could have painted these hand-formed, polished aluminum bodies -- but, why? Like you can see in the video, the bare aluminum shows every one of the car’s flaws and displays Runge’s development as a builder. If you want to see how they look down the highway, watch the video above.